In Amitav Ghosh's In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler's Tale and Lila Abu-Lughod's Dreams of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt, each authors provides an ethnography of a distinct kind. Ghosh's work combines a mystery story in his search for an Indian slave who lived nearly 1000 years ago; a depiction of life in twelfth century India, Egypt, and other locations; and an examination of life in contemporary rural Egypt based on Ghosh's own observations of two farming communities while earning his doctoral degree. Abu-Lughod's ethnography provides a content analysis of popular Egyptian melodramas and the reaction to them of two different classes of women in her examination of how media shapes, but is also shaped by, national identity. This analysis will examine how Ghosh and Abu-Lughod observe difference, how they manage their jobs as ethnographers, their methods and tools, and provide a discussion of whether gender seems to affect the approach of the ethnographers. A conclusion will address the difference between the two authors with respect to the impact they believe globalization is having on the communities they observe.
The methods used by Ghosh and Abu-Lughod are quite distinct. Ghosh's methods are multi-faceted. He relies on primary sources from the Geniza of old Cairo, which houses eight centuries of documents from invoices to biblical texts, to find the Indian slave Bomma, who worked for and became a representative in travels of Abraham Ben Yiju. It is from these materials that Ghosh rebuilds a picture of medieval society in the region. To this, Ghosh adds his own observations and experiences based on living in, and interviewing the inhabitants of, two farm communities on the outskirts of Alexandria. We get deeper insights into the essence of the villagers due Ghosh's intimate engagement among them. As he tells us of Ustaz Sabry, "On another occasion, in a speech on sup...